Barbara Sternberg (1945- ) is an independent experimental filmmaker, teacher, and writer. Born in Toronto, Sternberg moved to New Brunswick in 1976, where she created many of her first exhibited films as she raised her son in Sackville. While living in the Maritimes, Sternberg was an active member of the Community Art Centre and co-founded STRUTS Gallery in 1982. She is a founding member of Pleasure Dome, an artists' film and video exhibition group in Toronto, and helped to organize the International Experimental Film Congress (both 1989). Her work has been screened widely across Canada and internationally, most notably at the Museum of Modern Art, the Kino Arsenal theatre, and the Centre Georges Pompidou. Sternberg has lobbied vigorously on the status of film art in galleries and museums, serving as the Experimental Film Officer as the Filmmakers' Distribution Centre from 1985 to 1987, and in 2003 organized the Association for Film Art (AfFA) to promote support and awareness of experimental film. Sternberg is a graduate of the University of Toronto (1967), an alumna of Ryerson's Photographic Arts program (1973), and has taught Film and Visual Arts at York University (ca. 1979-2004). She is a recipient of the Governor General Award in Visual and Media Arts (2011).

Published

Full

Final

The fonds consists of records pertaining to Barbara Sternberg's activities as an artist, teacher, writer, and activist. In addition to subject files containing materials related to her films, the fonds includes posters, reviews, catalogues, programmes, research and drafts of unrealized projects, course, project, and grant proposals, as well as publications by and about Sternberg. It also includes conference and workshop materials, pedagogical documents, drafts of Sternberg's Cinema Canada column, materials related to screenings, exhibitions, and festivals, as well as correspondence with friends and colleagues, including contemporary Canadian experimental artist Michael Fernandes and former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke. Records of a personal nature are predominantly limited to correspondence.

Textual recordGraphic materialMoving imagesObjectSound recording

Donated by Barbara Sternberg in 2018.

The fonds consists of the following accruals: 2018-003. Further accruals are expected.

Series consists of records created or accumulated by Sternberg in the process of her activities as an experimental filmmaker, performer, and artist. Records include project files on complete and incomplete works, including but not limited to "A Story," "Transitions," "Like a Dream That Vanishes," and "Beating," and consist of notes, scripts, shot lists, research materials, grant applications, and correspondence. This series is primarily comprised of 35mm slides and photographs of varying dimensions. The series also includes multiple moving image formats, as well as an envelope of pressed leaves and a box of cloth figures.

Textual recordGraphic materialMoving imagesObject

2018/12/13 MS. Creation.

"Limitless and Immortal"2018-003/001(01)[ca. 1978]
1 folder of textual records English

(1 of 2) File divided by archivist.Donor note: in journal referred to as rocking chair film

Published

Textual record

2018/12/13 MS. Creation.

"Limitless and Immortal"2018-003/015(03)[ca. 1978]
1 folder of textual records English

Series consists primarily of textual records documenting Sternberg's professorial and professional careers. These records include curation and course proposals, notes, and ephemera; resumes; conference materials; interviews; research; copies, typescripts, and drafts of published and unpublished works; screening, talks, and tour records; writings related to screening introductions; exhibition records; film festival programs and publications; posters; and film periodicals and newsletters. Also included are materials pertaining to Sternberg's work with the Community Arts Centre, a selection of published works by or belonging to Sternberg, and a copy of George Clark's essay "To the Distant Observer: On the Films of Barbara Sternberg." In addition to textual records, this series includes posters, DVDs, photographs, and 35mm slides.

Series consists of draft and published copies of articles, interviews, and book chapters written or co-written by Barbara Sternberg. Also included are materials relating to Sternberg's Cinema Canada column, "On Experimental Film," as well as documents pertaining to an unrealized anthology on Canadian experimental film, and several photographs.

Textual recordGraphic material

2018/12/13 MS. Creation.

Unrealized anthology on Canadian experimental film2018-003/006(03)1987-1988
1 folder of textual records English

Published

Textual record

2018/12/13 MS. Creation.

Unrealized anthology on Canadian experimental film2018-003/015(12)1987-1988
1 folder of textual records English

Published

Textual record

2018/12/13 MS. Creation.

Oversized

"You've got ten minutes to get that flag down..."2018-003/007(06)1986
1 folder of textual records English

Series consists of records created or accumulated by Sternberg in the course of her political activities. The series contains materials relating to Sternberg's arts education and feminist activism, as well as a file containing Association for Film Art records. Series is comprised of textual records, photographs, videocassettes, a compact disc, and a poster.

Textual recordGraphic materialMoving images

2018/12/13 MS. Creation.

AFFA (Association for Film Art) arts activism2018-003/006(07)2005-2010
1 folder of textual records English

Series contains textual records and photographs pertaining to Sternberg's personal life, including medical information and personal correspondence. Included in the series is a file of Sternberg's correspondence with Canadian experimental artist and art educator Michael Fernandes.